Crossbeak help!!!

[Missunderstood1017]

I have a 7 week old tolbunt polish chick with a severe crossover. Im not sure if he actually is able to eat on his own. I was feeding him chick starter crumbles soaked in a bit of water and he swallows with every peck but not sure food was getting in there. He also has all day access to dry crumble. I noticed couple weeks ago that he spent his entire day eating or trying to atleast. But his 3 clutch mates and the rest of the polish chicks i got(all the same hatch date) grew by leaps and bounds where as he has stayed significantly smaller and less feathered. So after some research i decided to try torpedo feeding him. First 2 weeks when great feeding 3 times a day and he still has all day access to crumble.
Problem is that it seems to be getting harder and harder to get his mouth open enough to get the little chunk of food in far enough for him to swallow and not just fall back out. Its almost as if it is getting more crossed. Am i just prolonging his eventual death? Will he ever be able to eat for himself? He is so peppy with so much personality i hate to give up on him but where do i draw the line? I wont always have the time to do multiple daily feedings as im looking for a new job. I just dont know what to do.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I had a severe cross beak chick this year that unfortunately passed at around 10 weeks of age because it couldn't eat enough. Some less severe ones can live a near normal life, and others cannot eat enough to survive too long. It depends how much extra care you want to keep giving and how the chick is doing. It's not an easy decision to make either way.

 

[Bean1028]

Yes, the crossbeak will continue to get worse. We had one roo with severe crossbeak, tho not quite as bad as yours & he thrived until 7-8 weeks. I trimmed & filed his beak, but it didn't work. I hand fed him & finally we lost him at 11 weeks old, one day he just couldn't open his mouth & the next he died. I will never put another chicken thru that again, but it was our first time & he was so sweet we couldn't bear to do what needed to be done. Our 2nd case of crossbeak is a moderate case, and he is currently 23 weeks old & doing fantastic. I trim his beak weekly & hand feed him treats, and he is on a special diet when he has a hard time with pellets or mash. (I will not file, I did not find it conducive with #1). Almost all the materials I read on people being able to manage crossbeak were mild to moderate cases, but it seems the severe cases cannot be managed. I could be wrong, but that is what I found from other people & my own experience...and I spent tons of time devoted to my birds with and without issues. Also, if you know you won't have the time to manage it, it would probably be best to put him down.

 

[Corsomama]

Same as the last poster, my sweetest prettiest out of 18 chicks that I thought I could nurse through, gave extra help and bonded with passed at about 12 weeks. Especially hard for me as I got these chicks shortly after my beloved dog died unexpectedly from a genetic neurological disorder. The chicks were bought ahead of schedule (we were a few months shy of having everything ready) to help me over the hump of grief. I have been hatching chicks this spring and i did have a few with cross beaks. I culled them. Unless its minor, its kinder than letting them starve to death slowly in my opinion.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Yikes. That is a  severe crossbeak! It is unlikely that this chick will have a good quality of life even with intensive management like tube feeding. Unfortunately, the crossbeak almost always gets progressively worse as the chick grows. So as bad as it is now it will only get worse. Personally I would euthanize sooner rather than later.

 

[Altairsky]

Question: I've read stories on this forum of chicks missing the upper beak doing fine and eating without problems. If that's true, would upper beak amputation help in severe cases of crossbeak?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Question: I've read stories on this forum of chicks missing the upper beak doing fine and eating without problems. If that's true, would upper beak amputation help in severe cases of crossbeak?

Probably not as cross beak can causes the jaw to become misaligned which is much more debilitating than missing part of the beak.